“You Won’t Talk About Nikola Jokic Because He’s White”: Pat McAfee Calls Out Kendrick Perkins’ ‘Racism’ Amidst Perk’s ‘LeBron James’ Take

In the midst of a historic postseason run, Nikola Jokic has been putting up mindboggling numbers on a nightly basis. Kendrick Perkins, who had received a lot of backlash in the past over his controversial take on the two-time MVP, recently urged the media to promote the Serbian much more than they currently do. On his appearance on Pat McAfee’s podcast, the ESPN analyst revealed that the Joker needed much more exposure than the likes of LeBron James and Jayson Tatum. Meanwhile, referring to the former Celtics star’s ‘racist’ take from before, McAfee decided to call out Perk live on air.

In the middle of the 2022-2023 season, as the MVP race got heated, Perkins shocked the basketball world with an outlandish take. The 38-year-old implied that Joel Embiid was not going to win the prestigious individual award due to ‘racist’ voters. Bringing up the examples of Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash to substantiate his argument, Perkins suggested that Jokic won his two MVP awards because he was white.

“When it comes down to guys winning MVPs since 1990, it’s only three guys that won the MVP that wasn’t top 10 in scoring. Do you know who those three guys were? Steve Nash, Jokic, and Dirk Nowitzki. What do those guys have in common? I’ll let it sit there and marinate; you think about it.”

After his take went viral, many NBA talking heads called out KP for unnecessarily dragging ‘racism’ into the mix, including Charles Barkley and JJ Redick. Fast forward a few months, and the 2008 NBA champ is now all praises of the Serbian’s greatness.

Kendrick Perkins thinks the media should give Nikola Jokic more exposure

During Perkins’ recent appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, the panel had a long discussion about Jokic and how the five-time All-Star has been neglected by the media for a long time now. Only a few months after his wild take on the Joker not deserving the MVP, Perk claimed that all media networks should do a better job at promoting the Joker. Furthermore, Perkins even called the 6-foot-11 superstar the “most skilled center” ever.

“He is the most skilled center to ever touch the damn basketball…but we are to blame. And that’s us as the media, us at the network, ESPN, because we should do a better job of promoting and marketing him, and he should be on television.”

“We shouldn’t have to be waiting to the NBA Finals to be able to appreciate Jokić,” Perkins added. “We got to do a better job, including myself, of actually marketing him. Less talk about the Lakers and LeBron James and Jason Tatum, and more talk about Jokić. Period.”

Immediately after Perk finished his take, McAfee hilariously took a dig at him for backtracking on his recent criticism of the Nuggets star. Bringing up the old ‘racist’ take, the show’s host stated that the analyst wouldn’t talk about Jokic more because the Denver star is “white”.

“Perk, the reason why you won’t [talk about Jokic] is cause he’s White. I know that.”

Even social media joined Pat in calling out Perkins for being a hypocrite.

Perkins may have laughed off McAfee’s dig as a joke, but many NBA fans read between the lines and called out the NBA analyst.

Bomani Jones backed Kendrick Perkins’ insane take

While the entire basketball community ripped apart Perkins for his wild take, Bomani Jones was one of the few who backed the analyst. The journalist criticized JJ Reddick for dismissing Perkins’ claims regarding Embiid not winning the MVP.

Keeping aside what he initially said, it is great to see Perk finally tip his hat to Jokic for his phenomenal outing this postseason.